Mr. Zhuang pushed open the ajar classroom door, and the students who were still gathered together immediately dispersed and ran back to their seats to sit down.
Mr. Zhuang paused at the door before walking onto the podium.
He lowered his head to look at the students sitting behind the desks, and then sighed quietly, "There will be an exam tomorrow. This may be the last time we take the exam. Although it is only a few days, Mr. Da I hope you can be as serious as ever."
What this means is that he has agreed to the students dropping out of school.
In fact, it doesn’t matter if you don’t agree. The tuition fees are due once a year, and after the new year, the tuition fees for the new year will have to be paid. Even if Mr. Zhuang is willing to lower the tuition fees, the parents of these students will not agree to send their children here again.
Because in addition to fixing the problems, they also have to provide food for their children.
In the past, the little rice, noodles and money were nothing to them, but now it is different.
This year's grain harvest is poor, and no one knows what the situation will be like next year.
The reason why the children are still allowed to come to school after the autumn harvest is because they have already paid their homework for the year and it would be a waste not to come.
But every month the children have to bring a small bag of rice and noodles to school, which puts a heavy burden on the family.
But we have to bring it, because we can’t let other children have food while our own children are hungry, right?
Moreover, in the eyes of adults, studying is very labor-intensive and mentally demanding. Not only do you have to eat dry food in school, but you also have to eat dry food for breakfast at home. Otherwise, you will be hungry when you get to school, and you will not be able to listen. Can Mr. Jin give a lecture?
Therefore, if there are children studying in school, they must eat dry food at least twice a day.
And a dry meal, turned into porridge or noodle soup, is enough for one person to eat at least three times a day.
Qili Village and the two or three nearby villages are not very wealthy, and those who are willing to send their children to school are mostly rich farmers whose families are better off.
The premise is that Mr. Zhuang doesn't need many supplies at all, and his family can provide three meals a day for a child.
But after this natural disaster, each family's food reserves were running low.
Therefore, the parents of the students discussed it privately and chose this time to come to Mr. Zhuang to resign from school.
Mr. Zhuang was not a man who was indifferent to the world, so he naturally knew their current difficulties, so he tried to persuade them to stay, and even expressed his willingness to reduce or reduce the number of students. Seeing that they still insisted, he had no choice but to agree to let the students go.
Although he had decided to let them resign, Mr. Zhuang did not do nothing.
After the exam, he called these students one by one to the small courtyard next door to talk alone.
The younger ones told them to recite "The Thousand-Character Classic" and "The Analects of Confucius" repeatedly after they go back. He said: "These two books contain great wisdom. You may not be able to read it now, but you will get older as you get older." , the more you read, the more you will gain.”
The eight or nine-year-old child looked at a loss. Mr. Zhuang paused and then said: "You just need to remember to recite "The Thousand-Character Classic" and "The Analects of Confucius" every day after you go back. You will forget the words you have learned if you don't read them for a long time. Yes, if you forget the words you have learned, wouldn't you be living up to the expectations of your parents? The two years of study have been in vain."
Hearing this, the eight or nine-year-old child quickly nodded in agreement.
Mr. Zhuang is more attentive to talking to young people who are already twelve or thirteen years old. These children have been studying with him for four or five years.
Faced with their departure, Mr. Zhuang did not feel very sorry because these children did not want to take the imperial examination. After four or five years, what he could teach them was limited.
What he regrets most are the two students who have only been studying for two years or who only entered school last year.
Every child who came out of the teacher's courtyard had red eyes. No one knew what the teacher said to them except myself.
Man Bao and Bai Shan Bao were both a little uneasy.
Manbao's situation is a bit special. She doesn't know if her husband has left. If her husband leaves, how will she study?
Bai Shanbao was also very uneasy. He must study, but if Mr. Zhuang leaves, where will he go to study?
The person least affected is probably Bai Erlang.
After looking around, he made an agreement with his close friends that they would come to play with him more often in the future.
The friends from Qili Village agreed without thinking. After all, it was just a village and only a few steps away.
The people from the next village didn't hesitate too much. It only took a few quarters of an hour to run. There was nothing to do when I got home anyway, so wasn't it just for fun?
After all the students were searched, Mr. Zhuang regretfully said that this year’s course was over and everyone could pack up and go home for the New Year.
The students stood up and solemnly said goodbye to Mr. Zhuang, then put away their things in silence.
Man Bao waited for everyone to leave, and then he and Bai Shanbao ran to the small courtyard to find Mr.
Mr. Zhuang was just about to boil water to make tea. When he saw the two disciples coming, he waved to them and said, "You're just in time, help Mr. light the fire."
Man Bao ran up. She was very familiar with this work. She struck flint and steel, lit the hay and started a fire.
Bai Shanbao handed her some firewood and asked Mr. Zhuang, "Sir, do you want to leave?"
Mr. Zhuang asked, "Why, you don't want to study anymore?"
"No, I want to study with my husband."
Mr. Zhuang stroked his beard and smiled and said, "Isn't that great? You can just study with me in peace."
Manbao and Bai Shanbao breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, and became happy again, so they invited: "Sir, you can come to my house for dinner tonight."
Mr. Zhuang touched Man Bao's head and said with a smile: "Mr. is not free tonight. I have already agreed with Mr. Bai to go to his place for dinner."
Bai Shanbao suddenly realized, "No wonder Bai Er is not anxious at all. Did he know it earlier?"
Mr. Zhuang smiled meaningfully.
Of course Bai Erlang didn't know. This kid had few things on his mind. Maybe no one asked him, so he didn't think these things were related to him.
He thought, just do whatever you want.
He is still a child, why should he worry about these things?
Therefore, even if he had to sit down with Mr. Zhuang to eat at dinner, he would not have any trouble. After his father took a chopstick of food, he would eat seriously.
There were only the father and son and Mr. Zhuang at the table. Mr. Bai felt that the table was too dull, so he suggested, "Mr. Zhuang, how about calling Shanbao over?"
Of course Mr. Zhuang has no objection.
So the servants went down and soon brought Bai Shanbao and Manbao over.
Mr. Bai laughed when he saw Man Bao, "I was still thinking about whether I should send someone to your house to invite you, but I didn't expect that you are still at Shanbao's house. Now Mr. Zhuang is the only three of your students, and we happened to be sitting together to discuss this lesson."
How to get on."
Bai Shanbao explained, "We are discussing planting some melons and beans in the wasteland at the foot of the mountain after spring."